•  
  •  
 

Abstract

Beauty is often perceived as a neutral concept; however, perceptions of beauty vary across different societies. In Indonesia, for instance, beauty is frequently associated with having fair skin and a slim physique. Consequently, women who do not meet these criteria are often deemed unattractive. Furthermore, beauty is commonly linked to a woman's success. This issue is critically examined in the 2019 film in Ernest Prakasa, Imperfect: Karier, Cinta & Timbangan, which centers on the life of a young woman named Rara, who is depicted as dark-skinned and slightly overweight. The societal pressures she faces to conform to prevailing beauty standards in pursuit of her dreams highlight the problematic nature of these standards. Additionally, the film portrays how even characters like Lulu and Debby, who fit the conventional beauty mold, are not immune to criticism. This study aims to explore the problematic nature of beauty standards and their impact on women, employing Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of capital and symbolic violence. The research concludes that beauty standards create unfair situations for women, perpetuating unattainable ideals that disproportionately affect them.

Bahasa Abstract

Kecantikan sering kali dianggap sebagai konsep yang netral; namun, persepsi tentang kecantikan berbeda di berbagai masyarakat. Di Indonesia, misalnya, kecantikan sering kali dikaitkan dengan kulit yang cerah dan tubuh yang ramping. Akibatnya, perempuan yang tidak memenuhi kriteria tersebut sering dianggap tidak menarik. Selain itu, kecantikan kerap dikaitkan dengan kesuksesan seorang perempuan. Isu ini dikaji secara kritis dalam film tahun 2019 karya Ernest Prakasa, Imperfect: Karier, Cinta & Timbangan, yang berfokus pada kehidupan seorang perempuan muda bernama Rara, yang digambarkan berkulit gelap dan sedikit kelebihan berat badan. Tekanan sosial yang dihadapinya untuk menyesuaikan diri dengan standar kecantikan yang berlaku dalam mengejar mimpinya menyoroti sifat problematis dari standar tersebut. Selain itu, film ini juga menggambarkan bagaimana karakter seperti Lulu dan Debby, yang sesuai dengan pola kecantikan konvensional, tidak luput dari kritik. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengeksplorasi sifat problematis dari standar kecantikan dan dampaknya terhadap perempuan, dengan menggunakan teori kapital dan kekerasan simbolik dari Pierre Bourdieu. Penelitian ini menyimpulkan bahwa standar kecantikan menciptakan situasi yang tidak adil bagi perempuan, dengan mengabadikan cita-cita yang tidak dapat dicapai yang secara tidak proporsional memengaruhi mereka.

References

Aco, Jumadin, Juanda and Faisal. 2021. Ekranisasi Novel Imperfect Karya Meira Anastasia ke Film Imperfect Karya Ernest Prakasa. InNeologia: Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra Indonesia 2 no. 3: 105-119.

“Beauty.” Cambridge Dictionary Online. Retrieved from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/beauty (Accessed on September 20, 2024)

Bourdieu, Pierre, 1986. The Forms of Capital. Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education (J. G. Richardson Ed.). New York, NY: Greenwood Press.

_______. 1989. Social Space and Symbolic Power. In Sociological Theory 7 no. 1: 14−25. https://doi.org/10.2307/202060

_______. 2001. Masculine domination (R. Nice, Trans.). Stanford, CA: Stanford

University Press.

Connolly, Paul and Julie Healy. 2004. Symbolic Violence, Locality as Social Class: The Educational and Career Aspirations Of 10-11-Year-Old Boys in Belfast. In Pedagogy, Culture & Society 12 no. 1: 15−33 https://doi.org/10.1080/14681360400200187

Gunawan, Carissa Nathania & Twin Agus Pramonojati. 2021. Kepribadian Fully Function Person Pada Karakter Rara Dalam Film ‘Imperfect’. In eProceedings of Management 8 no. 2.

Ima, Isro. 2020. Berbakat di Bidang Seni, 5 Film Sukses Karya Sutradara Ernest Prakasa. IDN Times. Retrieved from https://www.idntimes.com/hype/entertainment/isroima/berbakat-dibidang-seni-5-film-sukses-karya-sutradara-ernest-prakasa-c1c2/5. (Accessed on September 20, 2024)

Maton, Karl. 2008. Habitus. In Pierre Bourdieu Key Concepts (Edited by Michael Grenfell). Publisher: Acumen Publishing.

Nurdiansyah, Muhammad Amin. 2020. Representasi Diskriminasi Terhadap Perempuan Dalam Film Imperfect, Undergraduate thesis, Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Surabaya.

Prianti, Desi. 2014 Indonesian Female Beauty Concept: Does It Take into Account the Traditional Values? In The Asian Conference on Media and Mass Communication 2013 Official Conference Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.22492/2186-5906.20130133

Sokowati, Muria Endah. 2020. The Paradox about the Body in the Film “Imperfect”. In I-Pop: International Journal of Indonesian Popular Culture and Communication no. 1 no. 1: 63–66. https://doi.org/10.36782/i-pop.v1i1.1.

Ugunawan, Ugunawan, Eka Yusup and Muhamad Ramdhani. 2021. Representasi Kepercayaan Diri Dalam Film “Imperfect: Karir, Cinta, & Timbangan” (Analisis Semiotika Roland Barthes Tentang Makna Percaya Diri Dalam Film “Imperfect: Karir, Cinta, & Timbangan”). In Media Bina Ilmiah 15 no. 11: 5675-5690. https://doi.org/10.33758/mbi.v15i11.1173

Valencia, Miechel and Ahmad Junaidi. 2021. Representation of Beauty Standards in Films Imperfect: Career, Love & Scales. In International Conference on Economics, Business, Social, and Humanities (ICEBSH 2021). https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.210805.122.

Wijayanto, Catur Sunu, Bambang Perkasa AlamandFitria Iswari. 2021. Representation of Women's Struggles in the Film “Imperfect: Career, Love, Scales” (“Imperfect: Karir, Cinta, Timbangan”). In Cultural Syndrome 3 no. 1: 1–14. https://doi.org/10.30998/cs.v3i1.623

Xu, Xing. 2019) Is “Beautiful Female Something” Symbolic Capital or Symbolic Violence? That Is a Question. In SAGE Open 9 no. 2. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019850236

Zainiya, Martha Ayuzulki and Nur Maghfirah Aesthetika. 2022. John Fiske’s Semiotic Analysis About Body Shaming in Imperfect Film. In Indonesian Journal of Cultural and Community Development 11.

Download

Share

COinS